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Explore 21 September

Explore 21 September: Malta and Belize become independent, Empress Cixi seizes power in China, The Hobbit is published and the first XB-29 takes to the air. Meet H. G. Wells, Leonard Cohen and Stephen King, born on this date.

This day through time →7 verified events across 3 eras

⌛7Full
Timeline ◈3Historic
Moments ♙6Born
Today ✦4Lives
Remembered ◉1Firsts &
Discoveries ♫1Culture
Stories ☉1Observances
The harbor at Valletta, Malta, in a 19th-century work by Calvert Jones.
The harbor at Valletta, Malta, in a 19th-century work by Calvert Jones.
Image creditCalvert Jones · CC0Resized and cropped for display.
1964

Malta becomes independent

Malta became independent from the United Kingdom on 21 September 1964 and remained in the Commonwealth. Prime Minister George Borg Olivier had prepared an independence constitution, which parliament endorsed and voters approved in a referendum in February 1964.

Talks at the Malta Independence Conference in July 1963 had ended with the announcement that independence would follow. Malta later joined the Council of Europe.

Read the full storyHistory & Timeline →Source: Encyclopaedia Britannica: Malta, modern history ↗
Belize City.
Belize City.
Image creditPgbk1987 · CC BY 3.0Resized and cropped for display.
1981

Belize gains full independence

Belize became fully independent from Britain on 21 September 1981, the last British colony on the American mainland. It had been known as British Honduras until 1973.

Guatemalan hostility delayed independence for years, and Belize took its case for self-determination to the United Nations and the Non-Aligned Movement. Britain granted independence over Guatemala’s protest, with a British defence guarantee, and Belize was admitted to the UN.

Read the full storyHistory & Timeline →Source: Encyclopaedia Britannica: Belize, independence ↗
The Empress Dowager Cixi.
The Empress Dowager Cixi.
Image creditJohn Yu Shuinling · Public domainResized and cropped for display.
1898

Empress Dowager Cixi ends the Hundred Days’ Reform

On 21 September 1898 the Guangxu Emperor was detained and the Empress Dowager Cixi took over the government, ending the Hundred Days’ Reform. Since 11 June the emperor had issued more than 40 edicts to transform China, spurred by reformers such as Kang Youwei after the country’s defeat in the Sino-Japanese War.

Conservatives were provoked when they learned of a reformist plot to remove Cixi. Most of the reforms were repealed and six reformers were executed, while Kang Youwei and Liang Qichao escaped.

Read the full storyHistory & Timeline →Source: Encyclopaedia Britannica: Hundred Days of Reform ↗
♙
PEOPLE

Born Today

Girolamo Savonarola
Image creditFra Bartolomeo · Public domainResized and cropped for display.
Born 1452

Girolamo Savonarola

Italian Dominican friar whose fiery preaching made him the leading religious and political voice in Florence in the 1490s; he was executed in 1498.

H. G. Wells
Image creditGeorge Charles Beresford · Public domainResized and cropped for display.
Born 1866

H. G. Wells

English writer and pioneer of science fiction, author of The Time Machine and The War of the Worlds.

Kwame Nkrumah
Image creditAbbie Rowe · Public domainResized and cropped for display.
Born 1909

Kwame Nkrumah

Ghanaian statesman who led the Gold Coast to independence in 1957 and became the first prime minister and president of Ghana.

Leonard Cohen
Image creditGorupdebesanez · CC BY-SA 3.0Resized and cropped for display.
Born 1934

Leonard Cohen

Canadian singer-songwriter and poet, author of the song ‘Hallelujah’.

Stephen King
Image creditKevin Payravi · CC BY-SA 4.0Resized and cropped for display.
Born 1947

Stephen King

American novelist whose horror and suspense books include Carrie, The Shining and It.

Bill Murray
Image creditTimelessblue · CC BY-SA 4.0Resized and cropped for display.
Born 1950

Bill Murray

American actor and comedian, known for Ghostbusters, Groundhog Day and Lost in Translation.

◉
IDEAS THAT CHANGED THINGS

Firsts, Science & Discoveries

A Boeing B-29 Superfortress.
A Boeing B-29 Superfortress.
Image creditAlan Wilson from Peterborough, Cambs, UK · CC BY-SA 2.0Resized and cropped for display.
1942

The first XB-29 takes off

On 21 September 1942 the first XB-29 prototype, part of a top-secret Boeing project, took off from Boeing Field in Seattle with test pilot Eddie Allen at the controls.

The B-29 Superfortress became the most sophisticated propeller-driven bomber of the Second World War and the first bomber to house its crew in pressurised compartments.

Read the full storyHistory & Timeline →Source: National Museum of the US Air Force: Development of the Boeing B-29 ↗
♫
MUSIC • FILM • BOOKS • CULTURE

Culture Stories

J. R. R. Tolkien, in a photograph from 1925 or 1926.
J. R. R. Tolkien, in a photograph from 1925 or 1926.
Image creditUnknown photo studio commissioned by Tolkien's students 1925/6 (private communication from Catherine McIlwaine, Tolkien Archivist, Bodleian Library) · Public domainResized and cropped for display.
1937

The Hobbit is published

J. R. R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit was published on 21 September 1937 by George Allen & Unwin, with Tolkien’s own illustrations, maps and dust-jacket design. The first print run was 1,500 copies.

It sold out within three months and became a perennial children’s classic.

Read the full storyHistory & Timeline →Source: The Tolkien Estate: The Hobbit ↗
✦
LIVES REMEMBERED

Remembered Today

Charles V
Image creditAttributed to Titian · Public domainResized and cropped for display.
Died 1558

Charles V

Holy Roman Emperor from 1519 to 1556, whose realms stretched from Spain and the Netherlands to the Americas.

Walter Scott
Image creditThomas Lawrence · Public domainResized and cropped for display.
Died 1832

Walter Scott

Scottish novelist, poet and playwright, author of Ivanhoe and the Waverley novels.

Arthur Schopenhauer
Image creditJohann Schäfer · Public domainResized and cropped for display.
Died 1860

Arthur Schopenhauer

German philosopher, author of The World as Will and Representation.

Bernardo Houssay
Image creditDesconocido · Public domainResized and cropped for display.
Died 1971

Bernardo Houssay

Argentine physiologist and Nobel laureate for his work on the pituitary gland and sugar metabolism.

☉
AROUND THE WORLD

Observances & Anniversaries

Annual

International Day of Peace

The UN General Assembly established the International Day of Peace in 1981 (resolution 36/67). Since 2001 (resolution 55/282) it has been fixed on 21 September and declared a day of global ceasefire and non-violence.

Source: United Nations: International Day of Peace ↗
HISTORY & TIMELINE

Finished the highlights?

Follow 21 September chronologically, from the Middle Ages to the modern day, with 7 verified events and the sources behind them.

This day through time →
Sources & further reading